Dollar Store Basket turned Baby Doll Bed!!

When I was putting together a basket for a silent auction fundraiser, I wanted to do a baby doll basket for a little girl.  I found this basket at the dollar store, it was perfect!! I loved the flexibility of it and the handles, which would make it so easy to pack around the house.

Here is what I did to turn this into a little dolly bed...

Items you will need:

• A Basket
• Foam
• Fabric (Fleece)
• Batting
• Hot Glue Gun and glue sticks
• Scissors
• Sewing Machine
• Razor Blade
• Pen
• Ribbon
• Any accessories (such as a doll, baby toys, etc)

How to make it:

(Picture of the Foam after the Oval was cut out)

First, take your basket and place it on top of your foam. Trace the basket bottom onto the foam. Then you will cut the foam out. A long Razor blade works great for this.

Then, place the cut out foam onto of the fabric. I purchase a fleece blanket from Walmart, it was cheaper for me to do this then buying actual fabric. Cut out the fabric two inches bigger than the foam piece. Do this twice. 

Then place the foam onto the fabric and with a glue gun, pull up the sides of the fabric and glue it to the foam. Then do the other side the same way.

Now it's time to make the pillow. Measure the width of the basket. Cut your pillow out an inch smaller than that. For example if your basket width was 7 inches then make the length of your pillow 6 inches. A pretty good doll pillow size would be 6 x 4 inches. Put right sides together and sew 3 of the edges. Leave on edge open. Turn fabric inside out. Stuff the pillow with the batting. Then stitch the open end shut. (I do this by turning in the edges and hand stitch it shut.) If you would like to forgo the sewing machine you can finish the pillow the same way you finish the blanket. The only difference would be you would tie the coordinating strips from each piece together. You'd do this on three sides, stuff with batting and then finish off the last side. 

Blanket: Cut the blanket 24 x 24 inches.  Then, start making cuts into the blanket two inches long and every inch. The whole way around. Next, take to strips that are next to each other and tie them into a knot. Do this the whole way around the blanket. 

Sorry, I don't have better pictures, the tutorial was an after thought, so the pictures were taken after it was all made up :)  Here's a shot of the bed and the pillow.

To complete the whole thing, I added a plush doll and some accessories (towel, rattle and bottle) I also strung some ribbon into the holes and tied it into a bow in the front. What I love about this little basket bed is that it is easy to carry with the handles!

This would be the perfect little girl gift, fun for Easter! It would also be so fun to do as a service project for young women. 

Here is another fun kid basket idea: